Distractions from Sewing

I know it is sometimes difficult to find time to sew.  I get so busy with the chores of daily life as well as all the incidentals that happen, that I don’t get time to sew.  However, I believe that can be a good thing.  We do need to get the daily chores done to keep our family life on an even keel and we need to keep all those medical appointments that many of us have.  We also need some down time that may not include sewing.  We need time to take a break from daily life and refresh and unwind.  After that break, we can get back to daily life and at the same time include a little time to sew or do whatever we like to do to be creative and have fun.  For me, that creative and fun thing is sewing!

I was busy this winter and did not have much time to sew.  I knew we were taking a vacation at St. Simons Island, Georgia in February and I thought I would have plenty of time to sew while I was there.  So, I packed one of my sewing machines along with patterns, fabric, and notions.  As in years past, this plan did not work.  I should know better by now!   It is too inconvenient to sew in a place where I do not have the good lighting, the two cutting tables, a serger, and all sorts of sewing notions that I have in my sewing room; not to even mention all the distractions on St. Simons.  Who wants to sew when you could be walking on the beach or sitting on the village pier watching pelicans and boats or just sitting on a balcony overlooking the pool and eating boiled peanuts?  I even had the opportunity to have lunch with some of the people from my Glynn Academy High School Graduation Class of 1959.  Yes, all of these things took precedence over sewing even for me!

Here are a few of things that distracted me from sewing.

 

Barely five days after arriving back home, we left again for a short trip (another distraction from sewing).   We went to Topeka, Indiana for a draft horse sale.  One of the pulling bred geldings sold for $40,000.  We didn't go to buy or sale horses.  We sold our draft horses years ago, but we still enjoy watching them.  Topeka is a small town without a hotel, so we stayed in Shipshewana which is about eight miles north of Topeka.  Here we enjoyed a much different way of life than the beach life of St. Simons Island.  Here the streets have not only cars, but also lots of buggies pulled by horses with Amish families going about their daily lives unconcerned with the hustle and bustle of the rest of us. 

We watched the draft horse pull competition while we were there.  There were eleven teams in the competition.  The winners pulled 14,900 pounds.  One of the pulling bred geldings sold for $40,000.  I am not sure if this team was the winner. 

 

Now, that is enough down time for me.  I need to get busy planning and sewing.  I am organizing a new Neighborhood Group for the Lansing Clippers, Chapter of the American Sewing Guild.  This new small group will work on patterns and will be called “Pattern Works”.   We will work on learning to fit patterns, hacking/mashing patterns, and drafting patterns.  Our first meeting is scheduled for April 13^th.  

I also have two jacket patterns I want to fit to me.  I plan to make a muslin for each one.  I just need to schedule some time each day to work on them.

I hope you are having fun sewing.  Remember to schedule time for your creative passions!

Judy

Another Mash Using Kwik Sew K3915 - 

Currently, there is a lot of interest in “pattern hacking” and for good reasons.  If you love to sew, this term is probably not new to you.  For those of you not familiar with the term, it is simply making changes to a pattern to make a different style of garment.  You should always start with a pattern that fits you well.

There is also a related term called “pattern mash”.  That is taking a pattern that fits you and changing it by adding a design detail from another pattern.  For example, you might take a tee top pattern and change  the neckline by tracing a neckline from a different pattern onto your tee top and finishing it by following the instructions of the second pattern.  I showed you an example of a ”mash" in my blog post dated January 1, 2024.  I used Kwik Sew K3915 and traced the neckline of View B onto a tee top pattern I had.  View B had a ruched neckline that I was able to replicate without going to the trouble of fitting the Kwik Sew pattern.  Below is a picture of the pattern envelope for Kwik Sew K3915.

A few weeks ago, I decided I also liked the neckline of the top shown in View A of Kwik Sew K3915.  I took the same tee top pattern and traced the neckline of View B onto it.  Then I followed the directions of Kwik Sew K3915 and completed the V neckline with gathers at the front on my tee top.  Again, I saved myself the time it would have taken to fit the Kwik Sew pattern.  For me, that is the greatest benefit of a pattern "hack" or "mash".  Shown below are pictures of my new tee top made by “mashing” two patterns.

 

If you haven’t tried hacking and/or mashing patterns, I hope you will give it a try soon.  Just be sure you begin with a pattern that fits you properly.  Then, the fun and creativity can begin!

Judy

 

 

Adding Embroidery to a Basic Tee

My sewing machine has an embroidery unit, but I rarely use it.  I am not sure why I don’t, but I have a couple of theories.  The first one is I am always in a hurry to finish a sewing project once I start it.  I know it will take time to plan which design I want to use and to embroider a sample before placing it on a garment.  Those two things take time.  I think the second reason is I am afraid it will not turn out right.  I could place it on the wrong spot or the design might not stitch out without a flaw due to an operator error. 

In an attempt to make myself use the embroidery unit of my sewing machine more frequently, I joined the Embroidery Neighborhood Group of the Lansing Clippers American Sewing Guild.  I am so glad I did.  This group meets once a month at the Hen House Fabric Store in Charlotte.  The group is discussion only, which means I don’t need to lug my heavy machine to Charlotte to participate.   The discussions, led by Bev and Char, are super helpful.  We have a different topic each month and most months we bring samples of something we stitched.  We discuss our successes as well as our failures.  This is where all of us learn a lot and I get the courage to attempt to use my embroidery unit.

During our last meeting, we showed and discussed designs we stitched showing something from the sea.  That could be fish, whales, sea shells, coral, etc.  I planned to stitch a design showing sail boats in the distance with sea shells in the foreground.  It was a large design I wanted to place on the back of a sweatshirt jacket.  It had almost 35,000 stitches.  I was almost half done when I had to stop to change the bobbin thread.  This should not have been a problem, but it turned into one.  I hit the wrong button and caused the embroidery unit to go into the park position.  That also should not have been a problem; however, it was for me.  I was unable to get the needle back to point where it needed to be.  I won’t go into the details here, but I was unable to finish the design.  Now you might understand why I don’t embroider much.  I needed the design sewn out by my meeting the following day.  I decided to embroider a design with fewer stitches due to lack of time.  I chose a small sea horse and was able to get it stitched out before my meeting. 

Recently, I cut out a tee shirt from some inexpensive fabric I had.  I decided this would be the perfect time to try to add the sea horse to the top before sewing it together.   I also decided to place a design with sea gulls standing in water on the lower right side of the shirt.  I managed to get both designs embroidered on the shirt without a problem. 

I also recently made dark navy pants from Butterick B6910.  You might remember that is the pattern I used for the posts on how to fit pants.  I wasn’t sure I would like the pattern because it had a curved waistband.  I usually make pants with a straight waistband.  I will see how comfortable the pants are when I wear them.

The picture below shows both the tee shirt and navy pants.  I also took a closeup shot of the sea horse and sea gulls designs. 

 

Have you sewn your first project for 2024 yet?  If not, get started!  Is there a sewing technique or a process you want to try to improve or learn during this coming year?  If so, do your research and give it a try.

Good luck,

Judy